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Directors who swap the gender of Shakespeare’s characters risk ruining the plays’ rhythm, the former director of The National Theatre has said.

Sir Richard Eyre, who has spent decades working with Britain’s most well-known actors, and who directed BBC’s Hollow Crown series, said productions should never tamper with the text.

Sir Richard was responding to a question by an audience member at the Hay Festival who complained that the Royal Shakespeare’s Company recent production of Timon of Athens changed the word ‘man’ for ‘woman’ in the script, spoiling the flow.

“100 per cent agree,” he said: “I mean the plays are there. Do the plays, you can do anything with them, productions are like drawing on sand [and] the tide comes in. But do the plays, don’t rework it.”

Sir Richard also said he was concerned that many actors did not understand the rhythm of iambic pentameter and was worried it was not being taught in schools.

“I am bewildered sometimes when I hear people speaking Shakespeare. Can they not hear? It is not that hard, the iambic pentameter, why do they put the stress on the completely wrong word?

“I think probably it’s education. I think it’s probably just not taught. I don’t know why, I suppose people think that is another barrier to an understanding of Shakespeare.

“I have done classes with 15-year-olds where they have just become completely emancipated when they understood that there are certain formal things that actually help you because if you know the rhythm and where the stress comes, it often helps you to make sense of it.

“But also sometimes you hear, like Tony Hopkins has a perfect ear, Judi Dench has a perfect ear, some very young actors have a perfect ear and some just can’t or won't, you think you just wouldn’t do that if it was a piece of music.”